The Concise Townscape

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The process of linking and joiningtogether raises the problem thata buildings for social and businesspurposes. Yet since most people dojust what suits them when it suitsthem, we find that the out-of-doorsis culonized for social and business

Serial Vision - University of Manchester

v] Stephen Kaplan, Where Cognition and Affect Meet : A Theoretical Analysis of Preference, Cambridge University Press (1988)Serial vision theory is deeply rooted in how humans perceive and navigate their surroundings. As we move, we continuously process new information, updating our mental map of the area. Architects, city planners, and urban designers must carefully plan these visual sequences to ensure interesting, engaging, and easy-to-navigate urban spaces. example in India, where this introduction is being written: the approachfrom the Central Vista to the Rashtrapathi Bhawan1 in New Delhi.There is an open-ended courtyard composed of the two Secretariatbuildings and, at the end, the Rashtrapathi Bhawan. All this is raisedabove normal ground level and the approach is by a ramp. At the topof the ramp and in front of the axis building is a tall screen of railings.This is the setting. Travelling through it from the Central Vista we seethe two Secretariats in full, but the Rashtrapathi Bhawan is partiallyI The President's Residence, latelv Vicere~a1 Lodge. Cullen first worked at Berthold Lubektin and Tecton . T here he was involved in projects such as the Highpoint housing complex in Highgate, and the Finsbury Health Centre where he painted the murals in the foyer.

Gordon Cullen: Serial Vision in Urban Design Gordon Cullen: Serial Vision in Urban Design

On his return to the UK he started working for T he Architectural Review and produced influential editorials and case studies on planning theory and urban design. Cullen’s interest in design as a means of deepening emotion differs from the current fad for ‘urban memory’ as a means to recreate community, and design peddled as a way to boost emotional ‘well being’. Unlike today’s purveyors of urban design therapy, Cullen simply expressed the confidence of the age that emotional connection with places was important, and that through their skills, designers could enhance the experience of a place. It is sometimes astonishing howfragile can be the means of estab­lishing enclosure or space. A wirestretched from wall to wall like apencil stroke, a square of canvasstretched out overhead. In Chandi­garh I saw a bustee, or collection ofmud and thatch dwellings, arrangedin the shade of three large trees alonein the plain. The space thus enclosedby the three trees became the civicspace of the tiny community. Inthese pictures of the French Rivieraand a restaurant at the Festival ofBritain we see how bamboo is usedto establish enclosure and space andhow it achieves that evocative charmof containing whilst revealing whatis beyond.In this shortened version, the studies of specific towns have been left outand instead Cullen has contributed a new foreword and conclusion which The sequence in New Delhi (readthe photographs from left to right) em­phasizes the role of levels and screen­ing in serial vision, for here whatcould simply have been one picturereproduced four times, each viewenlarging the centre of the previousview and bringing US near to theterminal building, turns out to befour separate and unique views (seedescription in the Introduction). David Gosling and Foster Norman. Gordon Cullen: Visions of Urban Design. Academy Editions, 1996. ISBN 1-85490-435-3

Drawing the Townscape: the Centenary of Gordon Cullen. Drawing the Townscape: the Centenary of Gordon Cullen.

if at the end of it all the city appears dull, uninteresting and soulless, then it is not fulfilling itself. It has failed. The fire has been laid but nobody has put a match to it.” Gordon Cullen, The Concise Townscape Learning from the past The scene at Bremhill might be a hundred or a thousand years old. It is the archetype of meeting places, church, cross and tree. A common scene? Yet how many others can you recall and how many will there be in ten years’ time? Townscape identifies many features like those in the view of Oxford (below) that make city scenery distinctive. Here are a few of the most important.Possession: This term implies a sense of ownership or belonging towards a space. Cullen believed that the design of urban environments should be human-centred, aligned with human perception and needs, making them more inviting and comfortable. Possession can be seen as part of Cullen’s broader emphasis on making urban environments more humane and engaging, connecting on a deeper, more personal level. The illumination halfway up thestructure draws our attention outwardand upward. What is this mystery ofthe commonplace? At least it takesour eyes off our toe-caps. Even themost ordinary means can be harnessedto the task of arousing in us the senseof otherness through the use of light,through pointing the finger. It is notthe thing pointed out but the evoca­tive act of pointing that arouses theemotions.

The concise townscape : Cullen, Gordon, 1914- : Free Download

drama of solid geometry. This is theunfolding of a mystery, the sense thatas you press on more is revealed.Ipswich; a modest archway performsthe office of dividing the prospectinto two things, the street you are inand the place beyond, into which youemerge so that you move out of one The enclave or interior open to theexterior and having free and directaccess from one to the other is seen The book’s title is ‘The Concise Townscape,’ and Gordon Cullen is the author. He was a well-known urban planner and architect from England who played a significant role in the townscape movement. Cullen introduced a novel theory and approach to urban visual analysis and design founded on the psychology of perception, including human perceptions of time and space and the need for visual stimulation. The Concise Townscape is the name given to later versions of Townscape. Through this book, he significantly contributed to the Townscape’s structure.

In the Townscape

The townscape movement emerged after the Second World War as a way of looking at how towns grew organically and how planners should respect the visual richness produced by this organic growth. Although primarily a British movement, it had a wide influence as an alternative to the modernist attitude to looking at towns and redeveloping them. Simulating views at speed is critical for planning railways, highways, and other transportation systems. It is also useful for ascertaining whether reflective façades and other architectural details cause visual disturbances or interfere with the safety of nearby drivers. Serial vision simulation is also beneficial when assessing a new design proposal’s visual impact on the surrounding landscape. In 1972 he was elected Honorary Fellow of the RIBA. In 1975 he was awarded with an RDI for illustration and Townscape. The following year he was awarded a medal from The American Institute of Architects. In 1978 he was appointed a CBE for his contribution to architecture from Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. Through numerous case studies of the streets and publics spaces of places such as Shepton Mallet and Basildon, and including Liverpool Cathedral precinct and a re-imagined London Bankside, Cullen explores the ‘art of relationship’: ‘Bring people together and they create a collective surplus of enjoyment; bring buildings together and they can give visual pleasure which none can give separately’. Cullen advocated an artistic approach to using environmental ‘elements’ including buildings, trees, water, traffic, advertisements and so on, each of which was to be woven together in such a way that drama was released. This is the watetshed. Up to thispoint we have presented the environ­ment as occupied territory serving thelegitimate social and business needsof people and irrigated by trafficroutes. Now arises the natural corol­lary that if the outdoors is colonizedthen the people who do this willattempt to humanize the landscape injust the same way they already do forthe interiors. At this point we canfind little difference between the two,and the terms Indoor Landscape andOutdoor Room make sense. In thetop picture can be seen the patternedpavement (tloorscape) and arcade.Over this is a building in which aman lives whilst the vault of the skyspans over. To the right an avenueof trees leads out to the hills. Herein this picture of an interior is all thespatial quality of a landscape. Below,the diners are gathered togetherunder the ceiling lights and theHouses of Parliament sit on theperimeter like a model on the mantel­piece.